A More Beautiful Life: Another cast return, Commissioner Liao’s departure, results on TF1… Production announcements

On January 8, TF1 launched with great fanfare Plus belle la vie, even more beautiful, the sequel to the soap opera France 3. An opportunity for viewers to find Thomas (Laurent Kérusoré), Barbara (Léa François) and others in a new adventure. .

And after 9 months of airing and lots of intrigue, full of twists and turns, it’s time to analyze. A few days ago, during the La Rochelle Arts Festival, Clementine Planchon, producer of Plus belle la vie, encore plus, spoke to AlloCiné about what to expect in the next episodes of TF1’s daily soap opera.

AlloCiné: It’s been about 9 months since Plus belle la vie returned to TF1. How do you evaluate these 9 months?

Clementine Planchon : As a producer and along with the entire team who worked hard to relaunch the series in such a crazy time frame, we are very proud and happy with the energy used by the actors, directors and technicians alike.

We all did a great job and we are very happy with it. We are happy with the images and modernity that we were able to achieve and the evolution of the series. We’re also very happy with our stories and the characters we’ve discovered and want to discover more. We hope this is just the beginning.

There has been a lot of intrigue since the launch. Have you learned any lessons from society about what to do or not to do?

We spend time inquiring about ourselves. Otherwise we would stop. Here’s what’s interesting. We see many things that people don’t necessarily feel. Yes, there is always a return. We tell ourselves that we should have done things differently, or written the plot more like this, or worked like this…

That said, questioning ourselves is fine, but that doesn’t stop us from being happy with our work. I don’t tell myself, for example, that there was a big mistake. There are quite a few little things we can do better.

This summer, Plus belle la vie celebrated the departure Moon dailywho was a new character introduced last January. Why did you make this choice to separate from him? Did the character not work well in the dynamic of the series?

It was a very difficult choice. When we started thinking about this plot, it was not at all what we had planned. But because we had a broadcast delay due to the Paris 2024 Games, we needed a strong story, a strong rock-solid support for the cut.

So we wanted to plot around Thomas and the shooting. But shooting Thomas is not easy, because this character does not have many enemies. That’s why we had to think.

The first idea that the authors presented to us was that the shooter should be an external character. And I told them that if he were strong, he could only be the one we know. So we made a choice that brought us a lot of sadness.

Moon was great, so we’re sad to see her go. But that’s the game of fiction: sometimes we have to lose actors we love. This has happened in the past and may happen again. But sometimes that’s what makes stories so powerful.

Speaking of this summer break, was there anything you dreaded?

We knew from the beginning that it would be a break. We just didn’t know how long it would last. We had no fear. But we thought a lot about how we were going to reduce the transmission.

There was still a little fear. We often say that the daily streak should not stop because it disrupts people’s routines. But I think people come back if you give them good stories.

The storyline surrounding Luna, Blanche, Jennifer and Barbara is very reminiscent of Desperate Housewives. Was that one of your inspirations?

We were actually inspired by the plot of the last season of Desperate Housewives. It is not only that, but it is true that there are common points. Not all authors watch the series, so they do not necessarily have this reference.

We wanted to unite the four characters and we needed a negative event. But the idea of ​​this story was to get the audience on their side. It’s a bit like Dexter Morgan on Dexter, we never wanted him to get caught by the police. Girls on Desperate Housewives Season 8, we don’t want to get caught either. That’s what we found interesting.

Will this plot end with one of the characters in prison?

I can’t tell you that. Answers will come soon.

The intrigues of Plus belle la vie, even plus belle last less than those of France 3. This is TF1’s usual format along with its other dailies. Will you find what you are looking for there?

Yes, because it creates dynamism. Sometimes there were stretches that lasted 5 to 6 weeks. On the other hand, we have inequality on TF1. There are short arches and others that are sometimes longer.

And it happens that when we create a story, we assume that it will last three weeks, and we find that we have more material than expected during the writing. We give ourselves this freedom.

And I also think it’s important to keep it mechanical. There is a story that will last longer. It depends on our tone and the number of characters.

And what awaits the heroes in the coming months?

We will learn more about the Kepler family. I think they are very strong characters and we are going to learn more about them. This will happen by the end of the year. We’re also going to be in more soapy tones. We’re going to take a little break from the thriller before we come back to it, but in a different tone.

Tomorrow Belongs to Us and Here It All Begins has a habit of filming themed episodes based on seasons, such as Halloween. Can we expect that for Plus belle la vie?

We already did an episode around Valentine’s Day last February. We also put together a little story during Women’s Day in the March 10 episode. Yes, this year we are going to address Halloween. Something will happen around this holiday that will be a little more specific this year.

We try to combine these events every time. It can be done as a subplot or it can take up more space. It will also be Christmas. We maintain the codes that make up everyday life.

Plus belle la vie and daily soap operas in general often have bad guys/serial killers who are there for months or even years. We think of the witch or even Jacob. Is this what you want to do?

True, this is a very effective recipe. But with the Plus belle la vie collection director, we’re not a fan of this spring. Especially since it already existed. Tomorrow is ours, they have many serial killers in Sete.

It’s a dangerous city, even if Mistral isn’t any better (laugh). This is not necessarily in our plans at the moment, but I have to admit that it is often very effective and works well. I’m not going to say it will never happen, but there are no jobs yet.

During interviews, the cast often mentions Fremont when asked which character they would like to bring back. Is this something you have in mind?

We have no plans to return at this time. But having said that, if we have a great Charles Fremont story, I’ll call Alexandre Fabre. It will be the story that will make you want to return it. Some actors continue to update me.

And can you recreate the villain he was?

True, at the moment this role is played by Vanessa Kepler. He’s not always very nice, but he’s a character I really like. I think there is still a lot to discover about him.

We need antagonists. So there will still be such characters. But I’m not sure we’re going to recreate a new Frémont. And then the character finally became likable. He wasn’t the big bad anymore.

This fall you introduced a new character who is Jules’ grandfather. It seems that he fell under Mirta’s spell. Will Mirta finally find love? Was it important to you that he finally moved on after Roland and moved on?

I get the impression that the page has been turned for a while. But I think it’s good that older characters can have love stories too. It’s not just for young people. Robert and Mirta are happy together and we can’t imagine that they love each other very much.

A few months ago, spectators discovered a flower pavilion. Will there be another new set soon?

No, there are no important new settings that will be created at this time. We are going to create a new, repetitive natural environment, for example, apartments. But we don’t have anything planned in the studios except for random sets like a hospital room.

Even Johanna Boyer, Jeremy Charvet, Diane Dassin and Laurent Kerussorre are singers. Would you like to do a musical episode one day?

I thought. I even tried to sell this idea body and soul, but it is not planned at this time. Setup is not that easy. I pitched this idea to TF1 months ago and explained that we have a lot of singers and we could build an episode around that.

Unfortunately, this does not fit into the everyday economy. Music rights and choreographies are very expensive. So it’s not easy to set up. So, for now, I’ve given up on it for a bit, but since I want to do it and have authors who also like the idea, maybe I’ll give it another try.